The present invention relates generally to horse drawn wagons and more particularly to a horse drawn wagon which may be converted into a two-wheeled trailer for towing behind a mechanized vehicle.
During the past 15 years there has been a renewed interest in the use of draft horses in the United States. The number of draft horses in the United States has steadily increased during this period doubling every 4 to 5 years. Any number of reasons such as the increased cost of fuel oil used in farm vehicles or an interest in turn of the century American culture may be responsible for this phenomenon. There are presently few if any organizations in the United States which mass produce horse drawn equipment. As a result, most horse drawn vehicles are either antique vehicles or home-made vehicles which are fashioned after the horse drawn carriages and wagons of the past. Due to the expense of such vehicles, and the fact that most such vehicles are used for only limited periods of time, it would be generally desireable to provide a horse drawn vehicle which is readily adaptable for towing by a mechanized vehicle, such as a pickup truck. Such a vehicle would prove very convenient in situations where both the horses and the horse wagon must be transported over considerable distances. A wagon of this type would also be economical in that it could be used for hauling, etc., thus saving the owner the expense of acquiring a trailer for such purposes.
Although a four-wheeled horse drawn wagon might conceivably be attached to a pickup truck by using the horse draw bar, such an arrangement is generally undesirable in that the draw bar is generally not adapted for connection to such a vehicle and also because backing and maneuvering a four-wheeled vehicle with a long tongue is very difficult. It would therefore be generally desireable to provide a four-wheeled horse wagon which could be converted into a two-wheeled vehicle for convenient towing by a mechanized vehicle.